Independent expert reports on coercive control.
Coercive control is a pattern, and that is precisely what makes it hard to prove. I read the documentary record as a whole, and set out plainly what it shows — whether it discloses a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour, and how far the evidence actually goes.
Reports are prepared for family, civil and criminal proceedings.
MSW, RSW · Independent expert reports · Prepared for either party
Why a pattern is hard to prove — and what a report does about it
Courts are built to answer one question very well: did this happen? Coercive control does not always clearly answer that question. Any single event in it looks small — a text, a transfer, a change to the pickup time, a motion filed three days before a holiday. Each one can be explained. Each one, on its own, usually is.
The harm is in the accumulation, and in the sequence — the way each move takes something further away: money, contact, time, the ability to make a decision without consequence. Set out as separate complaints, it can read as a difficult relationship or high conflict. Read in order, as one record, it has a clear pattern of asymmetry — the power and control run mostly one way.
That is the work. I read the documentary record — messages and communications, financial and account records, filings and their timing, school, medical and employment records, third-party correspondence — as a whole, before forming any view. Where the engagement includes it, I interview the party who retained me. Then I set out what the record shows, in language a court can weigh.
Where I stand
I am retained by either side — applicants and respondents, plaintiffs and defendants, Crown and defence. My duty is to the court, and it comes ahead of any duty to the party who retained me. That isn't a disclaimer. It is the reason a report is worth commissioning at all: an opinion that could only ever land one way is worth nothing to anyone, including the person who paid for it.
So where the record supports a pattern, the report says so, and says how far the evidence goes. Where it doesn't, the report says that instead.
A report is not a parenting or custody assessment. I review a record, not a person. The other party is not interviewed or assessed, and I make no findings of fact — that is the court's role, not mine.
How a report works — and what it costs
There are three ways a report can be done. Which one fits depends on the record, and that is something we work out together at the consultation.
Documentary review
A contained record, or a single issue, read on the documents alone.
Review plus interview
The standard engagement — the full documentary review, together with an interview of the party who retained me.
Complex or multi-year record
Quoted once I've been through the document schedule, so the number you're given is a real one.
Fees, payment and timing
Everything is billed at $300 per hour. That is the one fixed number, and it is the honest way to price this work — what a report takes depends entirely on how much record there is and how tangled it is.
As a rough guide: a contained, single-issue review usually runs around ten hours. Most reports land somewhere between fifteen and twenty hours. A long or multi-year record can run well past that, which is why I go through the document schedule before quoting one. Testimony sits outside a report altogether — if a matter goes that far, we work it out then.
Payment is normally half on retainer and half on completion. If that doesn't work for your circumstances, say so at the consultation — arrangements can be discussed, and it is a far easier conversation to have at the start than partway through.
Most reports take four to six weeks from retainer, depending on the volume of material and what turns up in it. If you are working to a date, tell me what it is and I will tell you plainly whether I can meet it.
Fees are never contingent on the outcome of a matter, or on what a report concludes.
Start with a consultation
Forty-five minutes, $300. We go through the case together — what a report could and couldn't address, and how the process runs from here. You ask me your questions and I'll ask you mine. By the end you'll know whether a report is worth commissioning. The fee is credited in full toward one if it follows within 60 days.
For counsel
Working an active file? Book straight into the calendar. We'll look at what the record shows, where the evidentiary gaps sit, and whether an independent report earns its place in the case.
Book a consultation — counsel
For individuals
Whether you are self-represented or working with counsel — send a short enquiry first so I have the background before we speak, then book your consultation. I'll explain each step in plain language as we go.
Step 2 — Book a consultationSend a short enquiry
If you would rather write than book, this takes about a minute. Tell me who you are and what you are dealing with, and I will come back to you with whether this is something I can assist with, what it would involve and what it would cost. Counsel, self-represented parties, clinicians and organisations are all welcome to use it.
Your details
Nothing sent here creates a retainer or a cost.
